Episode 2 – J Patel – The Importance of Blood Work for Fitness Results

Everybody knows that to maintain a healthy life and perform at your best, you should work out regularly and eat right. This sounds almost too simple but yet, it is the most effective way to be in shape.

However, maintaining an active lifestyle might not always be enough to accomplish your bodyweight and performance goals.

Do you ever feel like you give your best at the gym but you don’t receive the results that you work for? Do you wonder why you are not losing weight and feeling energized even after following a healthy nutrition plan for so long?

Before cutting the size of your portions and adding those extra hours at the gym, maybe you should do some blood tests first to check if everything works as it should.

In this episode of Unleashed Podcast by Hidden Gym, functional medicine PA and pharmacist J Patel explains the importance of blood work evaluation. He is certified in hormone replacement and believes that optimizing hormones and vitamins is crucial for any person, who wants to be healthy and meet their fitness goals with ease.

J Patel and host Yuri Diogenes discuss how blood work can impact fitness performance, the most common reasons for fatigue, the essential vitamins for energetic life and, other wellness topics.

Here is a peek at their interesting conversation. 

Y.D: According to your experience, what is the most common reason for people to come to your service?

J.P: The most common concern of visitors to our clinic is fatigue. The majority of patients that come in and report difficulties losing weight or building muscle, eventually share that they experience fatigue.

I’ve seen a lot of patients who work out a lot but don’t see any results. After their tests evaluation, it becomes clear that their disrupted hormone levels and vitamin insufficiencies are the reasons for this.

Y.D: You mentioned that young folks also experience fatigue. I assume the causes for them are due to a lack of vitamins rather than hormone disturbances.

J.P: Young people may attribute their complaints to a variety of reasons, including cholesterol imbalances, thyroid problems, high blood pressure, vitamin D deficiency, poor sleep, and stress.

Sometimes there can be a very minor issue that causes lots of difficulties to the patient. However, the reason always has to be evaluated.

Y.D: So, for you to get started with this diagnose, you order a full blood test. What exactly are you looking at in this blood test?

J.P:  It’s always tailored towards individual cases.

In general, I check the thyroid, liver, kidney, cholesterol, testosterone, and vitamins. If the patients have some other inflammatory issue, we’ll check the full inflammatory panel.

For older people, we run certain cardiac tests to make sure that the heart is healthy.

Y.D: Does it vary the type of approach that you use for overall wellness versus weight loss versus muscle gain?

J.P: Yes, it does, but the age of the patient is also an important factor.

Let’s say somebody who is 20 years old comes in for weight loss, their approach will be a little bit different than somebody who is 50. We still do the lab tests on younger patients to ensure everything is okay, but we emphasize more on vitamins, IV therapy, and adopting a healthy lifestyle in general.

Y.D: Do you have any advice or treatment for joint pain?

J.P: This is a very common complaint, especially for weight lifters. There are multiple things we can do.

If it’s just one joint like shoulder or knee, we do stem cell, PRP, and a steroid injection, which is a quick fix.

If the patient’s lab tests are okay, we can give them a low dose of anabolics, but this has to be monitored closely.

Y.D:  It’s a great insight that you provide all these details in our conversation. Could you share your website?

J.P: Sure! You can go to myfitmed.com for more information about us and our services.

Furthermore, there is a special $50 discount for Hidden Gym members, so you definitely don’t want to miss this out!

Do you want to listen to the full episode of Unleashed Podcast and learn more about the relationship between blood work and fitness results? You can do this on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify!

Are you from Allen, Dallas, or Plano? Do you want to unleash your true potential and reach your fitness goals? Claim your free day pass here and join us at Hidden Gym!